


Children's Aid

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 20:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17210570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: Tumbler gets taken away by the Children’s Aid Society, and it’s up to Skittery to get him back.





	Children's Aid

“Did they take the bribe?” Blink asked when he met Slittery at the door of the lodging house. His tone was apprehensive, as well it might be, given the gravity of the situation.

“It weren’t a bribe,” Skittery answered, his voice low and dangerous. “It was bail , and no, they didn’t take it. They didn’t even give me a fair chance to bring it in! Two days in the Refuge, and they’s already up and sent Tumbler to some kinda half-baked home for ‘troubled boys’ upstate.”

“I can’t believe it!” Blink threw his cigarette on the ground and passionately stomped it out, to show just how much he couldn’t believe it. “Can you believe it Mush? Can you believe what they’s gone and done to poor, innocent Tumbler?”

“I can’t believe it!”

“I oughta bust their heads in! All he did was set his bed on fire. I hardly know a boy who hasn’t set his bed on fire!”

“Right,” Mush agreed. “I even set a bowl of soup on fire once. Setting things on fire is just part of growing up. Ain’t no reason to take a kid from the only loving home he’s ever known. It’s… It’s… Hey Skits, you alright?”

Skittery wasn’t alright. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be alright. That didn’t mean that he wanted to talk to Blink and Mush about it. He pushed passed them into the lodging house, and climbed up to his own bed, wishing for what had to be the hundredth time that he could have a little privacy, at least there. He’d gone to children’s aid and picked up what seemed to be about a million forms, all of them about adoption. He’d barely gotten the lady at the front counter to let him take them. She’d said that it was a waste of paper.

Maybe she was right. Maybe giving Skittery these forms to look at really was a waste of paper. Just one glance at the letters made him feel tired, just about ready to toss them out the window and give up. They asked questions about things like Tumbler’s real name, things that nobody knew, not even Tumbler himself. The forms were a waste of paper, and Skittery was a waste of space. He hardly ever pretended to be otherwise these days.

Well, now he’d have to start, or else he’d never convince anybody that he could be a respectable parent. He took out his pen, which he’d bought on the way home especially for this project, and started to try and make sense of the paperwork. It was probably, almost definitely futile, but he had to try.


End file.
